[TheBoiledEgg]

US Open champion Pete Sampras will compete in the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel next month, organisers said on Friday.
The American, who beat Andre Agassi to claim the 14th Grand Slam title of his career, is included in the strongest-ever Swiss Indoors line-up.

Sampras joins defending champion Tim Henman, world number two Tommy Haas, Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian and home favourite Roger Federer in the tournament, which begins on 21 October.

Spaniards Juan Carlos Ferrero, Albert Costa, Carlos Moya and Alex Corretja have also been confirmed to compete as have Americans Andy Roddick and James Blake

 

[Chloe le Bopper]

pft @ Ferrero.

He should play where none of the "indoor monsters" (or those who are remotely good indoors )play so that he can get more points

 

[kalforpete]

Looks like Pete is interested in qualifying for the Masters Cup. That's good to see. I wasn't sure we'd see him play again.

 

[Lindsayfan]

wow this is a great field!

 

[ILR]

yeh it is!Go Rogi and Tommy!

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

this event clashes with Stockholm (where Johansson/Enqvist will be) and St Petersburg where Marat and Yevgeny are)

i don't believe this will be the best ever Basel field

before Basel was held with a weaker event in same week until 2000
all the best indoor players that will play Stockholm and St Petersburg played then too

 

[Dissident]

hmm, thats good. I wont take it for granted untill I see his name in the draw, though.
Good luck, Pete!

 

[Mimi]

shoot them all, pistol pete

 

[tennischick]

what an idiot. he will regret not quitting while he was ahead.

 

[Mrs. B]

Well, i just purchased some tickets for Basel and will be looking forward to watch him play before he packs it in for good...

He is a tennis legend, after all.

 

[dots]

C'mon Pete!!!!!! love ya'!

 

[the cat]

Why is the ATP scheduling 3 tournaments the same week in Europe? I could see if one tournement was in Europe, one in America and one is South America. But why are all 3 on the same continent? I know this has happened before. But It looks like scheduling overkill to me.

As for Sampras. Like TC, I wish he had retired. How can he ever top his monumental 2002 U.S. Open triumph? He can't, unless he wins Wimbledon. And I guess that's what Pete's playing for now. It's certainly not the Davis Cup.

 

[Mimi]

welll the cat, i think pete still play coz he loves the game, not just only for winning titles

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

the cat, its Indoor season and its the last regular week before Paris Bercy.

regular events used to finish in mid-November before, now they all crammed in.

these 3 events are all bigger than average tour events.

Basel winner gets 50pts, St Petersburg and Stockholm gets 45.

its a MEGA week.
if you do well this week, these POINTS will go on your Optional event in most cases (SF for sure will get you in unless you are Mr Optional, aka Younes El Ayanaoui)

 

[tennischick]

[email protected] Mr. Optional. if he had played fewer of those matches he might have had some energy to spank Hewitt in New York...

and Cat, while i predicted that the Android woudl retire now (and was clearly wrong), to me the only thing keeping him in the game is not winning Wimby but making sure he doesn't retire before Agassi. those two are more hooked together than most married couples.

 

[kalforpete]

TC,

I think you're wrong. Maybe 3 or 4 years ago, that might would have have been one of his intentions. That he would/could play as long as Agassi. Now, I don't think he could care less. Well, maybe that's not completely true either. He would want Agassi to continue playing as long as he plays because Agassi brings out the best in him no matter how bad a year Pete has had. No disrespect to the other players but none of them match up to Agassi for Pete. Since Pete feels Agassi to be the best that he has ever played, he needs Agassi around to motivate him, to bring out the best in him in the big moments.

I didn't think Pete would play again after winning the USO. I figured he would decide that winning another Slam would be enough for him. I forgot one thing. How bad that 2nd round loss in the Graveyard at Wimbledon affected him and how he said then that that was not gonna be the last memory of him at Wimbledon. I think that and his chance to once again qualify for the Masters Cup at the end of the year is why he is still continuing to play. Pete has no points to defend for the rest of the year so he can only gain points from now til the end of the year, which he needs to do to qualify for the Masters Cup. Nothing to do with Agassi at all.

Here's an article you might want to read. It gives a little insight into the "Android" that we don't normally see.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/mckendry/020911.html

 

[harry_potter]

good luck, pete!

 

[dbc]

Don't think there are indoor t'ments anywhere but Europe and everyone at the top is trying to get as many points as possible to qualify for the Masters final. You always find the last couple of weeks of the year have 2 or 3 tourneys, except for the 2 weeks of the 2 last Masters events.

 

[Dissident]

Thanks for that article Kath.
I knew all that already, and I have a feeling that the people who didnt wont care to read the article anyway.
I read (and heard) many of those remarks they put there in his interviews, since his win over Greg. I started following him more closely in this tournament after that.
He seems to be a lot more human, and thats great for me. I dont care what people say at all. Pete is NOW one of my faves. The other Pete was good, but he wasnt among my faves. Whats the difference? He is NOT AT ALL an android now. Not at all.

 

[kalforpete]

Hi Hitman!

To me, Pete has never been an Android. He's always been the type of player on court that I liked. The quiet ones that lets their racquet do the talking.

I guess he "seems more human" to a lot of people since he's been on his losing streak and shows his frustration and disappointments when before he was always so impassive. He has now started letting the public see a side of him that he used to keep to himself.

You're right. Those that don't care for Pete and is always looking for an excuse to be negative about him won't want to read the article or find themselves liking him.